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The Artist and The Doctor: A life Less Ordinary
Bousharo Exclusive!
Dr. Osman is a Somali medical doctor and an artist. Through humble beginnings in East Africa to establishing himself not only as a doctor but also an Artist whose work has been featured in art exhibitions worldwide, Mohammed Osman is the embodiment of the potential and the resilient sprit of Africa combined with the American dream.
A self taught artist Dr, Osman’s work has been featured in many exhibitions in the US and Europe. Exhibitions in the US include the Emerging Artist Exhibition at Ohio University, the African American Museum of Art and Pratt Art Gallery, both in Tacoma, Washington, and the Sundiata Arts Festival in Seattle, Washington. His last exhibition was at Rosenthal’s Gallery, Fayetteville State University. The title of that exhibition was “Art & Medicine”.
Images of his work have been used in many cover pages of journals and books. The European Union has published in their bulletin one of his paintings devoted to Female Genital Mutilation. Schools, Colleges, Universities and other humanitarian institution have used Osman’s art to reflect an agenda or topic. Scotland Yard recently has used some of his images in a conference dedicated to immigrants. In recognition of his work Osman has received several awards as an artist in the Fayetteville area and in Seattle, Washington State.
Bousharo is pleased to have been granted a rare interview with Dr. Osman and to hear of his personal journey which is as interesting as his paintings.
Osman was born in 1952 in Merka, a small coastal town in Somalia. The town is known for its wild beaches surrounded by valleys of bright orange dunes and it is often reflected in most of his painting. Osman tells Bousharo of his early life and of his father who owned a tailor shop where the young Osman worked daily with bolts of fabrics in all colours. In contemplation he muses with affection ‘tailors are indeed artists’
Under colonial Italian rule, Osman obtained his Middle school certificate in Italian before being accepted into Benadir
Secondary School, one of the most prestigious schools in Mogadishu attended mostly by the children of the
ruling class, ‘it even hosted our beautiful Iman
(the model whose father was a diplomat) although I
have a blurred vision of how she looked then’
Osman studies eventually took him to Entebbe, Uganda where he lived for one year. It was in Uganda where
his love of art was born, ‘I still remember the famous Botanic Garden of Entebbe on Lake Victoria. The
beautiful landscape of this garden had an impact on how I see and perceive colours. Since then I started absorbing the energy of colours as a powerful element in the world of art’
After his time in Uganda, Osman found himself in Russia, former USSR to further study medicine. He lived in Russia for almost ten years. Despite the rigorous training of Medical School he found time to immerse himself in the rich cultural heritage of classical art, ‘here i was inspired by the art of Kuinji, Alexander Ivanov, Gregory Soroka, amongst many other. Of course I used to travel to Europe. Italy was like my home town. I felt closer to classical visual art whenever I travelled to Italy and Germany.’This extensive travel not only exposed Osman to different styles of painting, but also meant he picked up many languages (he is a fluent speaker of five languages: English, Italian, Russian, Somali and Spanish )
Having finished his studies Osman left Russia in 1981 but the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia meant he could not go back. After a period of unsettlement he finally settled in Kenya, ‘I was smuggled to Mombasa, Kenya from a small coastal town in Tanzania, and finally after a successful completion of the Kenyan Board Licensing Exam I was allowed to practice general medicine in Eldoret, Kenya. I stayed and practiced medicine here for 3 years before deciding to go back to Somalia where I become the United Nations Physician in Somalia. I worked with the UN for 2 years before the situation in the country deteriorated and I was forced to flee with my family and we found ourselves in the US and eventually Canada. This was the end of 1989 approximately 20 years ago now.’ He concludes wistfully
‘Within the first year of my residence as a refugee immigrant, I succeeded to pass both the Canadian and American licensing Exams. I was completely detached from art life then. My focus was mainly geared toward succeeding to practice medicine in North America. And in 1992, I got accepted as a physician resident in Toledo, Ohio. Toledo is a sister city of Toledo, Spain. Toledo Museum of Art further inspired and urged me to start painting. Since 1994 to this date I have never stopped painting. I have a collection of 500 original paintings.’
It is easy to see Osman passion for his art as he speaks, ‘what I create communicates with our spiritual, aesthetic, psycho social aspects and sense of human being. I am inspired by what I see, feel, touch, think about and remember. I do not duplicates or imitate any other artist in the world. I do not paint to please people. I don’t paint to concur with the buyer’s wishes. I broke the rule of how the world’s art community wants us to portray contemporary African art. My art is not primitive and therefore I cannot make it look like crafts. It conveys a multitude of strong messages. They are deep in thoughts and contents. They tell a history. My art reflects humanity’
